She received permission from the city and the state of New York and made it to the site by 9am the next day.

Murphy's robots, which look like minitanks on tracks, searched for victims as well as for paths through the rubble.

Rescue workers also deployed the bots to determine the structural integrity of damaged buildings.

"There were no survivors to be found," Murphy said. "They did help find bodies. ... They were able to say, 'This area has been searched, this is a hole that has been opened up'."

"Overall, I think the main good they did was they got the rescue community to see what the technology could be. They weren't the Sony dogs. ... they were really practical," she added, referring to the Aibo robotic dog.